Bishop Sheen Quotes and Talks

There is so much we can learn from Archbishop Sheen. His quotes and lessons are timeless. I will be adding to this page regularly – I think his wisdom is just about inexhaustible.

Who Is Going To Save Our Church?

Sacrament of Anointing the Sick

Our Lady of Fatima ~ Venerable Fulton J Sheen

“Do not feel that suffering is an obstacle on the road to heaven; it can be the road itself.” – Archbishop Sheen

The many events of October 13, 1917 – The Birthday of the Modern World

Religion Today – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Spectators on and About the Cross – Ven Fulton J. Sheen

Abortion: The Approach of Midnight ~ Ven Fulton J Sheen

Wasted Suffering – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

There is a hospital that I have occasion to drive by quite often, and whenever I do, I feel a great sadness because within those walls there is so much wasted suffering.

Take Sides – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

The Descent of the Holy Spirit – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

The Descent of the Holy Ghost Upon the Apostles. Many have wished that Our Blessed Lord had remained on earth, that we might have heard His voice, seen His compassionate eyes, and brought our children to be blessed by His hands. But He said ‘I can say truly that it is better for you I should go away; He who is to befriend you will not come to you unless I do go, but if only I make my way there, I will send Him to you.’ If our Lord remained on earth, He would have been only a symbol to be copied – not a life to be lived. By returning to his heavenly Father, He could then send both from the Father and Himself the Holy Spirit that would make Him live on earth in His new Body, which is the Church. The human body is made up of millions of cells, and yet is one because vivified by one soul, presided over by a visible head, and governed by an invisible mind. So on Pentecost, the Apostles, who were like the cells of a body, became Christ’s Mystical Body, because vivified by His Holy Spirit, governed by one visible head, Peter, and presided over by one invisible head, Christ in heaven. Our glorious Church is not an organization, but an organism. As our Lord once thought, governed, and sanctified through a human body, which He took from the womb of His blessed Mother, so now he teaches, governs, and sanctifies through his Mystical Body, the Church, which He took from the womb of humanity overshadowed by His Holy Spirit. Christ was infallible when He talked through a human body; He is still infallible when he teaches through a mystical Body. Christ sanctified when he forgave sins with human lips; He sanctifies still when he forgives sins through the power of His priests. Christ governed through His human Body, and he governs still. ‘He that heareth you, heareth Me.’ As a drop of blood can live in the body, but the drop of blood cannot live apart from the body, so neither can any of us live the fullness of the Christ Life except in His Mystical Body, the Church.” – Archbishop Fulton Sheen (The Fifteen Mysteries)

Defective…

Questions and Answers – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

The Cross had asked the questions; the Resurrection had answered them….The Cross had asked: why does God permit evil and sin to nail Justice to a tree? The Resurrection answered: That sin having done its worst might exhaust itself and thus be overcome by Love that is stronger than either sin or death. Thus there emerges the Easter lesson that the power of evil and the chaos of any one moment can be defied and conquered for the basis of our hope is not in any construct of human power but in the power of God who has given to the evil of this earth its one mortal wound – an open tomb, a gaping sepulcher, and empty grave.

If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hated. My reason for doing this would be, that if Christ is in any one of the churches of the world today, He must still be hated as He was when He was on earth in the flesh. If you would find Christ today, then find the Church that does not get along with the world. Look for the Church that is hated by the world as Christ was hated by the world. Look for the Church that is accused of being behind the times, as our Lord was accused of being ignorant and never having learned. Look for the Church which men sneer at as socially inferior, as they sneered at Our Lord because He came from Nazareth. Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as Our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. Look for the Church which, in seasons of bigotry, men say must be destroyed in the name of God as men crucified Christ and thought they had done a service to God. Look for the Church which the world rejects because it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because He called Himself the Truth. Look for the Church which is rejected by the world as Our Lord was rejected by men. Look for the Church which amid the confusions of conflicting opinions, its members love as they love Christ, and respect its Voice as the very voice of its Founder, and the suspicion will grow, that if the Church is unpopular with the spirit of the world, then it is unworldly, and if it is unworldly it is other worldly. since it is other-worldly, it is infinitely loved and infinitely hated as was Christ Himself. But only that which is Divine can be infinitely hated and infinitely loved. Therefore the Church is Divine.”

Overrun With The Broadminded – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Killing For The State – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Once the idea is introduced that one may take the life of a person because he is not useful to the state, then it will not be long before we are taking his life because his ideas are not the same as those of the state. In 1936 Hitler introduced the idea of merciless killing under the lying title of ‘Charitable Foundation for Institutional Care.’ The basic principal was that those who could not be of benefit to society should be killed. Up to the outbreak of the war 275,000 people were put to death. Once the door was opened for destroying the sanctity of a single personality, there was nothing to stop slaughter.

A Constant Reproach – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Precious Diamonds – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

What if God placed a precious diamond in the hands of parents and told them to inscribe on it a sentence which would be read on the Last Day, and shown as an index of their thoughts and ideals? What caution they would exercise in their selection! And yet the example the parents give their children will be that by which they will be judged on the Last Day.

The Meaning of the Mass – Venerable Fulton Sheen

The Holy Hour – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

The Holy Hour is not a devotion; it is a sharing in the work of redemption. Our Blessed Lord used the words “hour” and “day” in two totally different connotations in the Gospel of John. “Day” belongs to God; the “hour” belongs to evil. Seven times in the Gospel of John, the word “hour” is used, and in each instance it refers to the demonic, and to the moments when Christ is no longer in the Father’s Hands, but in the hands of men. In the Garden, our Lord contrasted two “hours” – one was the evil hour “this is your hour” – with which Judas could turn out the lights of the world. In contrast, our Lord asked: “Could you not watch one hour with Me?”. In other words, he asked for an hour of reparation to combat the hour of evil; an hour of victimal union with the Cross to overcome the anti-love of sin. The only time Our Lord asked the Apostles for anything was the night he went into his agony. Then he did not ask all of them … perhaps because he knew he could not count on their fidelity. But at least he expected three to be faithful to him: Peter, James and John. As often in the history of the Church since that time, evil was awake, but the disciples were asleep. That is why there came out of His anguished and lonely Heart the sigh: “Could you not watch one hour with me?” Not for an hour of activity did He plead, but for an hour of companionship.

I I Were Not A Catholic – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

On Holy Hours and The Mother of Christ – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Archbishop Fulton Sheen Eucharistic Adoration Quotes:

“A Holy Hour of Adoration in our modern rat race is necessary for authentic prayer.”

“The best time to make a holy hour is in the morning, early, before the day sets traps for us.”

“By being faithful to our Holy Hour, and letting nothing interfere with it, we use it as the sign and symbol of our victimhood.”

“We are not called to great penances…but the Holy Hour is a sacrifice in union with Christ.”

“God gave us two weapons: knees and hands. Knees–to spend an hour a day in reparation for sins.

St. Paul tells us that faith comes from listening. In a daily Holy Hour, we wait for Him to speak—and He does!

I wonder if it is not true that as the world loses veneration for Christ’s mother, it loses also it’s adoration of Christ.

Purgatory – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Grace – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Joy Vs. Pleasure – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Pleasure is associated with the body; for instance, we feel pleasure after a good meal. Joy is of the heart, and it comes from a good conscience. Joy hears music on the inside even when discords are ringing outside. Pleasure depends on outward circumstances, for example, wealth, friends, and wine, and therefore it can be obliterated by the slightest toothache. Joy is independent of outward circumstances; it can be felt even in adversity and pain.

Birth Control – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Faith and Decaying Civilization

Two Classes Of People – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Fulton Sheen On Contraception

The Man Who Believes In Truth – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

10 Times As Much – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Behave

Our Cross – Venerable Fulton Sheen

“Unless there is a Cross in our lives there will never be a resurrection. The Christian law of life is we have to die in order to live. Now I do not mean and He did not mean physically dying. He meant mortification, self-denial, the application of the Cross in our lives.” Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen